Experiment 23
by Tsubasa Kya
Summary: Haruhi made a promise to 'them'. She would finish what her mother started. As the past creeps up on her, the Host club worries over her disappearance and go to find out what happened. The truth is hard to bear. InuyashaOuran xover. Pairings undecided.
1. What Means the Most

**Title: Experiment 23  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own " Ouran High School Host Club" or "Inuyasha". _

_NOTE: I have not yet read the Ouran High School Host Club manga (although Feather insists I will do so very soon) and so I only know the anime and what research I have done online. Character profiles are following the OHSHC anime episode 26, and Inuyasha characters will be in an alternate universe._

_Also__, this story is the result of a challenge between _feathergriffin_ and myself. We are both taking a similar story idea and seeing how the two of us will interpret it into our own stories. This is my interpretation, and you can find Feather's linked in my profile. We did discuss several ideas for the story before deciding to challenge each other, and there is a chance both stories will be similar. But there is also a greater chance both stories will result very differently. I do hope you will read hers, even if you are reading mine. We will both be posting our chapters at the same time, so bug both of us if you want a new chapter. Her story is titled "What Might Have Been". – TK _

Chapter One  
What Means the Most

Haruhi Fujioka sighed as her pencil tip broke, feeling more distracted as each moment passed. Her focus slipped away like the white clouds in the sky, and with even more ease than the wind blowing through the trees. Her brown eyes stared at the bare tip of her plain gray mechanical pencil before she raised her free hand to push the eraser down and bring out more of the thin lead.

As her dark brown hair fell into her eyes and blocked her view of the pencil, she sighed for what must have been the tenth time that hour and put the pencil down. What meant the most to her? Someone had posed that question the evening before during the Host Club. It was a young girl who Haruhi had been entertaining.

Truthfully, the girl had been fishing for information on Haruhi, but most of Haruhi's customers were like that. They wanted to get to know Haruhi the boy. All of them were too blind to see that she was really a girl. She almost snorted at the very thought: they were blinded by the _dazzling_ smiles, _winning_ looks, and _charming_ personalities of the other Hosts.

Girls. At least, rich girls… they were all like that. Some of them were worse.

She turned her head and looked out the window, past Hikaru, space being the destination of her distracted mind. It hadn't happened for two years, and she'd had a difficult time dealing with it _then_, but to have the nightmares return so suddenly… She knew "that" was about to happen. She wouldn't have the nightmares if that wasn't going to happen.

And yet, aside from not sleeping, where was the cure for nightmares? She'd made a promise when she was younger. She'd made a promise to her mother's grave… she made a promise to _them_. They were counting on her… They wouldn't have to rely on her, if circumstances were different, but that wasn't how life was.

Haruhi watched as the leaves outside turned colors, feeling almost a million miles away from the teacher who talked about things she should be taking notice of, and yet she'd written nothing more than half the date on the page, unable to continue forward. She really couldn't let her grades suffer…for their sakes, if nothing else…

As fall passed into winter, the colorful leaves that seemed green just a moment ago could be plucked from their mother-trees by something so simple as a brush of the wind. And all she could think about was the past. It wasn't behind her, because it was her future.

What meant the most to her? Haruhi pushed her hair out of her eyes, feeling her attention wax further into the realm of nothingness. She could feel people glancing at her out of the corners of their eyes, but even if they did ask if something was wrong, she would remain silent. These people… wouldn't understand a commoner's thoughts. Their worries.

"Haruhi-kun," a cheerful young girl in the lovely female uniform for Ouran asked as several others crowded eagerly to listen to their 'favorite' host talk. "What's the one thing that means the most to you in the whole wide world?"

The question hadn't been asked to startle Haruhi, but it had enough so that the teapot she was using to serve had slipped right out of her fingertips. It hadn't fallen far, but it did cause tea to spill onto the girl's dress, staining the yellow a deeper beige color.

As the girl cried over spilled liquid and a ruined dress, the question still rang in Haruhi's mind, making her body freeze in fear. True, it was a common play by girls, meant to get the host to say, "Nothing in this world could mean more than my spending this and any other moment with you."

Without Tamaki Souh at the club, Haruhi didn't have to worry about the embarrassment of someone fawning over how _she_ was when it was the young girl who was spilled on. Tamaki was odd, constantly fretting over Haruhi. But while Tamaki's customers sorely missed his presence, as did the club, everyone at school knew the reason for his disappearance.

Right at that moment, Tamaki was in France. After a fiasco with Éclair Tonnerre a few weeks earlier during a festival at Ouran High School, Tamaki's father finally took charge, allowing Tamaki to return to France for his mother. Tamaki's grandmother had apparently consented to this as well, though her reasoning was yet unknown. Tamaki had been gone a week so far, and two days previous, his constant and nagging calls ceased, causing worry within the Host club members.

Still, they ran the club in his absence, considering the fact that Kyouya Ootori mostly ran the club even when Tamaki was there.

_What means the most to you??_

Despite the calls yesterday, Haruhi had just left without saying goodbye. She supposed there must have been some scary look on her face, because not even the fearless twins Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin had followed. The girls who were constant customers of Haruhi at the Host club thought they did something wrong and proceeded to cry, but Haruhi couldn't stay.

She'd left school and run home, fully intending on locking herself in her room and not coming out. She hadn't eaten dinner; her appetite was gone. She hadn't even cooked it for her father.

No, she'd been torn by the question in ways she'd avoided for years. **_What means the most to you?!_** Them… And because of that question, she'd dreamt it again. She hadn't been very old when her mother died. She told people it was an accident, and that's what they believed. But it had been an illness that killed her. She died in a car, true…but, that wasn't true at the same time. Disease was the cause, and yet… it was not her mother's disease that did it, but Haruhi's…

Melancholy filled her soul to points of bursting now. Was any of this really worth the effort?

Haruhi put her head on the desk, closing her eyes, willing away the anger and frustration building just beneath the surface of her skin. After school, maybe she should go? Maybe she should see them, and tell them her nightmare…

Why, another part of her whispered. What could they do? Even if she did have a nightmare, what could they do about it?

She heard the door to the classroom open, and looked in spite of her misery. Immediately she wished she hadn't and looked back down at her hands in guilt. It was a face she easily recognized, standing with her father, who for the sake of a daughter in a prestigious school had dressed like a normal man for a moment. Beside the two was Yuzuru Souh, the school's superintendent.

She glanced at Hikaru and Kaoru out of the corner of her eyes. Hikaru and Kaoru seemed to know immediately something was wrong, since Souh himself, Tamaki's father, had made an appearance. Anyone who knew who Haruhi's father was would know that Haruhi was also the recipient of whatever trouble this would bring. Souh didn't often come to the school himself.

She sighed heavily and began putting her things together. There was only one reason why he would come. She hadn't seen him since middle school, and while that wasn't an incredibly long time ago… it felt like forever. The Host club had taken her mind off of her worries at least for this long…

As she buckled her briefcase, Souh spoke in soft tones to the teacher. Finally, she forced herself to look up. The class was staring at _him_. Her friend, her old friend, stared at her silently. His skin was pale, and his eyes seemed to stare right through to her soul. The class was stunned into silence, and she knew why.

His eyes were unnatural. A deep sun gold. His ears, visible with his long, knee-length thick silver hair pulled back in a braid, were pointed like an elves' ears. He stood with his hands jammed in the pockets of his black slacks. His stance screamed 'danger, approach with caution'.

He looked as she remembered him, the bright maroon tattoos on his face looking like lines of blood. She knew his wrists had similar marks to those, facing inward, and his bangs curved around that deep blue crescent moon. He was a really handsome man now, but his features and the way he held himself seemed to make the room icy. He was unapproachable.

Haruhi felt eyes turn to her as she stood up, including those of her twin friends Hikaru and Kaoru. She bet the only reason the twins could stifle their questions was because her old friend's presence bore down on them and try though they might, words were likely beyond them—just like everyone else.

He was Sesshoumaru Fushiro, and very few could muster speech in his presence. He wasn't as bad once a person got to know him, but until then, he could be the worst, most intimidating man alive. Yakuza lords would have the right to fear him.

Souh turned to Haruhi, clearly done talking to the teacher, and without even needing to be told she walked toward her father and her old friend, carrying her briefcase with her. She did know it would happen again. Deep down, this was inevitable. People were not gods, and they could not live forever.

No words were spoken as they made their way to the exit of the school, superintendent Souh leading the way. Once they were off school grounds, they were left alone and as Souh returned to the school, Haruhi's father turned and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Right in front of Sesshoumaru, he said, "You don't have to go, Haruhi."

Haruhi knew her smile was pathetic even as it formed on her lips. "It didn't have to happen…but it did." It was misery, she realized. She courted death like all other mortals. They all did. Yet, misery seemed to hover around them all like a death cadence. No one wanted it… it was not a friend… but they had it… that feel of impending doom…

Her father sighed and pulled her close into a hug. She released her bag, letting it fall to the ground so she could cling to her father like the lifeline he was. Without him, she would be nothing really. He didn't have to keep her. He didn't have to have her.

But he did…

Still, she had to go. It was time to face the truth once more, and watch as feelings of grief settled in her body with harsh ripples. She released her father and turned to Sesshoumaru… and he simply nodded at her.

Haruhi gave her briefcase to her father before following her old friend to the place where her happiest memories lay, and to where _they_ were. To where a promise was made, and she was welcome no matter what happened to her, or what she did…

To a place called "home".

…To a place where anguish ran like rivers, and sorrow pooled like lakes…

**End.**


	2. Something Interesting to Know

**Title: Experiment 23  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own " Ouran High School Host Club" or "Inuyasha". _

Chapter Two  
Something Interesting to Know

Hikaru and Kaoru walked into the Third Floor Music Room, the home of the Host club, confusion and silence hanging heavily on their shoulders. Neither of them could understand why Haruhi had just left so suddenly, and with a man scarier (and admittedly better looking) than anything they'd ever seen.

They'd flipped notes in the form of paper footballs to each other through the rest of the day, both of them trying to deduce why Haruhi had been so glum yesterday, today, and now… who was he?

"You two are late," Kyouya Ootori pointed out to the twins. True, the Host club only entertained for two hours after school, but the hosts met half an hour early to prepare for the afternoon before the ladies started showing up.

The twins looked around the room, noticing the distinct absence of Takashi Morinozuka and Mitsukuni Haninozuka. "Where's Mori and Hunny?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked in unison. Kyouya hadn't even changed yet. They were going to be dressing up as commoners.

Kaoru added, "Why haven't you gotten ready?" Neither twin really cared why, since it did seem as though they wouldn't be putting a show on for the Host club customers. They both were worried about Haruhi, and had every intention of driving by her place to see what was up with her.

Kyouya pressed his glasses further up on his nose. "Hunny got sick this afternoon, and Mori took him home. Where is Haruhi?" He snapped his black folder shut in annoyance.

Hikaru and Kaoru glanced at each other. They decided to tell Kyouya, since he would find out anyway. "Haruhi left early," they said together.

Kyouya shook his head. He knew he should have kept Haruhi in debt, but thanks to Éclair, Haruhi had become very distracted. He'd noticed her distraction. It wasn't because of Tamaki's disappearance either, because even before Tamaki left for France Haruhi had been distracted, constantly looking out the window with a strange twist to her features.

He had to admit, his curiosity was perked. She seemed almost…sad… He would have to research why she left later that night. But with only three Host members, they would have to cancel the evening. He'd already known they would have to, but now it was a sure thing.

"Fine," Kyouya said as he tucked his folder under his arm. He watched the twins' eyes light up and already knew what they planned. As they turned to leave, he said lowly, "Leave Haruhi alone."

The twins turned to glare at Kyouya, but he simply glared right back. After a moment, they agreed they would. Kyouya began preparations to cancel the club as the twins left. Ten minutes later, he was able to leave and he directed his driver to Haruhi's home.

After all… it wasn't as if he was about to listen to his own order. It wasn't long after that, he was getting out of the black car and joining two red-heads who couldn't listen to an order if it meant their lives. He pushed his glasses up again, and then opened his mouth to scold them, but as Kaoru and Hikaru raised their hands to knock on the door, it opened.

There, standing in the doorway, was Haruhi's father with a suitcase in one hand, and one at his feet. For a long moment, there was silence. Then Ranka stepped out, still wearing the suit the twins had seen him in earlier. He tossed a set of keys at the twins and the two fumbled to catch them, but they dropped. He picked up the second suitcase and started walking away.

"Be useful, and lock up when you're done." Ranka said, his tone lonely sounding. All of them remembered him as cheerful, every time they met him—except when he dealt with Tamaki, which didn't really count. Now, the cheer was miles away. As Ranka walked past Kyouya, the boy heard the cross-dresser mutter, "It'll be a while, anyway…"

He'd almost gotten to the stairs before he turned, pinning a morose stare on the three, "Stay away from Haruhi," he added, "if you know what's good for you…"

All three were stunned. None of them knew what to say to that, so instead they crowded the rail, watching Ranka get into a taxi waiting for him in the street below. Once the taxi had driven off and turned the corner, the three immediately went into the apartment. It only took a few seconds to realize that most of both Fujioka members' clothes were gone.

Disturbed by this, Hikaru immediately took off running, leaving the apartment and fruitlessly calling out from the rail, "Haruhi!!" It felt as though with each passing second, Haruhi was getting further and further away and there was nothing they could do about it.

Kaoru went to his brother and this time, he was the one putting his arms around his brother. Hikaru just didn't realize how obvious it was at that moment to know how Hikaru felt about Haruhi. Hikaru also didn't know that Kaoru felt exactly the same way for her… but he wouldn't do anything about it. And he most certainly wouldn't let his brother know.

"You two go home." Kyouya said firmly as he took his phone out, heading for his car. He told the driver to take him home but once he was on the road, he was dialing Tamaki's cell phone. He almost pushed the call button, but stopped himself as a scenario developed in his mind.

No, Tamaki could not know. He dialed Hikaru and Kaoru instead. When one of them answered—knowing who it was just had to be so difficult, even for him—he said immediately, "Do not tell Tamaki."

He was not enlightened to hear, "Oops…" on the other end.

"You told him already?" Kyouya asked in disbelief.

"Actually, Hikaru just left a message on our Lord's voice mail." So it was Kaoru.

Kyouya didn't bother with a salutation. He snapped the phone shut. He only hoped Tamaki didn't leave France for this…

Since the damage had already been done, the next day Kyouya informed Mori and Hunny of what had happened. They would find out eventually, so Kyouya felt it would be better coming from him. He informed them of Ranka's warning, and Hunny refused to even eat sweets hearing it.

Two days after that, the worst happened; Tamaki returned.

-

The piano was an escape from reality for anyone who would listen. The cello brought the listener back to earth. The clarinet stirred dangerous emotions inside the listener. The flute brought the listener to tears. The violin took away the listener's hope for freedom.

But the voice that sang… it did so with faith and the listener could feel as though they had not only escaped reality, but created a new one, a better one.

Still… the song was incomplete. In the corner of the room was a small stand. On top of it lay a piccolo case, and beside that was an oboe case. On the floor was a viola case, a second violin case, a saxophone case, and a guitar case. Still beside that was a xylophone, set up with the sticks lying at rest on the keys. Next to that was a rack with a series of chimes, and a mallet stuck out of the lowest chime's top.

The music group had a small audience of five people. Tears flowed freely down the faces of those present. When the song ended, no one clapped. It wasn't an unusual thing; no one could rejoice. They had all thought they were in the clear. They had all thought that it wasn't dangerous to just enjoy life.

And now, this?

Haruhi lowered the violin, knowing very well that each person's personality had entered that song. They had played their hearts out, poured themselves into the music like milk into a glass. She looked at each of the other players, a sigh in her heart. Truly, the world was unfair.

Miroku Shishuni was at the piano, his eyes closed even if the song was done. His black hair was held in a tie at the nape of his neck, the short strands clumped into a small tail. His gray-violet eyes weren't visible. His slender fingers were massaging his right hand, on a purple cloth wrap guarded by a rosary. His middle finger had a gold ring on it, that contrasted with his tan skin. Since the last time she'd seen him, just like Sesshoumaru it had been in middle school, he'd taken to wearing dark, baggy clothes that made him seem paler than he was.

Sesshoumaru was near Miroku, able to sit in a chair as he played the cello. His sun gold eyes constantly wandered toward their singer, and though his features remained hard Haruhi knew him too well to mistake his concern for irritation or anger.

On the clarinet was Naraku Hubri. He was the oldest of the group, being two months older than Sesshoumaru, both of them seniors at the Public High School. Naraku always wore clothes in gray and black tones, and always looked incredibly pale. His thick, waist length black hair flowed freely, since he never tied it unless he was going out. Long lashes framed eyes as bright red as fresh blood.

Beside Naraku was his fraternal twin sister, Kagura, with her flute in her hands and a fan in her lap, folded up. She kept her black hair pinned against her head in a tight bun, but Haruhi knew it was just as long as Naraku's when left to fall. Her eyes were equally bloody, and a green bead clip kept three feathers clipped into her hair. She wore a colorful, checked tank top and blue jean-shorts that Naraku always argued. Their younger sister Kagura, who was Haruhi's age, was in the small audience of people, dressed in a white spring dress despite it was fall. Her hair was pure snow white, and her eyes were milky. She'd been blind for years…ever since it had happened.

The singer was Kagome Higurashi. Her deep blue eyes sparkled like the night sky, and her clothes hung on her form despite the fact that they were small already. Everyone knew why her clothes hung like that. She was sick, and for the past ten years she had been ill. Periodically she would get better, only to relapse worse and it would take her longer to recover again.

The other members of the audience were Kagome's mother Aris, younger brother—and the head of Higurashi household being the only male in the family—Souta, and older sister Kikyou. The fifth member of the audience was Kagome's doctor, Hojou Negimi. But Kagome was Haruhi's reason to come.

She wondered what the other members of the Host club would say if they knew she could play. It was something she hadn't mentioned to them, simply because she couldn't keep her feelings out of her music.

She knew her father had told her Host club friends that she was bad at music in general when the Zuka club from St. Lobelia had kidnapped her to do a musical number, but it wasn't entirely true. No, she couldn't hold a note if it meant her life. Her voice was awful. But she could play the violin.

Haruhi plucked at the strings of the violin with one finger. Again, misery seemed far too oppressive to the atmosphere. What had been done to the majority of those in the room… from Kanna to Haruhi, from Naraku to Sesshoumaru. None of them were free from a curse. Only Souta, who was too young to know about it, and Aris and Hojou who hadn't been as unlucky, were free. And there were others, bound and chained like the rest of them.

At the moment, they weren't there. But at any time now, they would start arriving from various places around the country. There wasn't a single one of them that would throw away the chance to be by Kagome while she was sick.

It hadn't been a problem when they were younger. They were all growing up together, learning to cope with what had happened… At the time, Sunset Shrine had been filled with people. It had been a safe haven for rape and abuse victims. Most of those women were poor and sometimes they had children, and abortion cost more money than the women who sought their help had.

So the Higurashi family had taken their wealth and used it to take care of the women. They weren't quite as wealthy as the Souh family, or the Ootori family, or really anyone at Ouran. But they had enough money to take care of the women without stressing too badly.

But then, it happened. Haruhi shuddered as she recalled the horrible memories, and the knowledge that each of them could essentially be wasting away just like Kagome, getting worse by the day, and none of them would know until it was too late.

Like walking time bombs… They could all easily be the next to go, and none of them would be able to do anything about it. But Haruhi promised them all… she was the only one who could do it… Sesshoumaru and Naraku were both smart enough, they'd always been better than her at everything, but Sesshoumaru helped Souta and Aris manage the Higurashi estate ever since Kagome's grandfather Tokiro died in the incident, and he also helped Kikyou take care of Kagome as much as possible.

Naraku was also unable to do it, because of Kagura and Kanna. The rest of them didn't have the opportunity to do it… so that left her… That left her to keep her promise, despite the many lonely nights listening to the thunder clapping outside her window as her father worked late nights or the nightmares she always endured both before and after Kagome fell ill.

She smoothed the pink dress she wore. Her father had packed her suitcase and dropped it off at the shrine before he left to go visit some family members in another city. He wouldn't have gone, but she had told him to. She told him to and he went knowing full well that she didn't have the time to worry about him.

A loud bell could be heard echoing throughout the shrine, and the silence was broken by it, shattering it into thousands of pieces. Almost like a calling, everyone in the room began setting their music and instruments aside. They had sat in relative quiet for almost half an hour as Kagome sat in her seat, tired from standing and singing for a seven minute song.

Sesshoumaru set his cello carefully beneath the baby grand piano before he approached Kagome. Haruhi watched as his features softened only slightly before he picked her up as though she were his bride, cradling her so she wouldn't have to walk and wear herself out. It was this action, if no other in the past three days had done so, that spoke volumes of just how ill Kagome was this time.

She didn't even seem to have the energy to protest the movement as everyone moved from the music room to the sitting room down the hall. Kikyou headed for the front door, to answer it and admit the person who begged entrance. In the sitting room, Miroku let Haruhi cuddle up against his side on one of the chairs.

Today was subdued. Miroku wasn't even bothering to try feeling Haruhi up, and he had not asked her to bear his child yet today. He just wrapped his arm around her and she leaned gratefully against him, her eyes on Kagome as Sesshoumaru settled her in a nearby chair.

Twenty seconds later, Sesshoumaru's younger half-brother Inuyasha Iko entered the room, fuzzy little dog ears twitching on top of his head of silver hair. His eyes were similar to his brothers, but more amber than sun gold. He was also far more approachable, wearing jeans and a baggy red tee-shirt, with laugh-lines on his features. He wasn't smiling at that moment though. His eyes immediately searched out Kagome, and he walked across the room to kneel before her chair.

Inuyasha took Kagome's hands in his before asking in a genuine voice, "How're ya feelin'? Not too hot?"

Kagome smiled and reached out to tug on Inuyasha's ears, tweaking the cute puppy-like appendages. His face turned red, but he didn't turn away from her. "I'm okay," she said, and everyone heard her. "Sesshou's taking good care of me."

"He damn well better," Inuyasha grumped, licking his lips. "Um," he started up again, now turning to scan the room. "Not everyone's here?"

Kikyou stepped into the room and their eyes turned toward her. "The rest of them will come. Most of them are driving here, but we do expect them by tonight. I have the cooks preparing a late dinner."

Inuyasha nodded and stood up. "I'll go drop my suitcase in the room then."

Once more, silence and a feeling of dread pervaded the atmosphere as Inuyasha left. It was always like that during the time until everyone had arrived. Haruhi and Miroku had remained in the city, so they were the first to arrive at the shrine, but the rest of them lived from the northern tip of Japan down to the southern islands.

Haruhi felt Miroku's arm pull her closer as Kagome started coughing, but he relaxed again when Kagome stopped and Sesshoumaru offered her a glass of water. To be honest, Haruhi had thought the Host club members would have come looking for her already. She hadn't been at school for two and a half days. They had already proven themselves to panic if she was gone to the bathroom for more than ten minutes.

A part of her was glad they weren't around. Another part was disappointed.

But just as Kikyou had said, very soon people started arriving and all the chairs in the sitting room were soon filled with multiple people. By six o'clock PM, everyone had settled in, and slowly chatter filled the gloomy atmosphere, masking it with false cheer. They all asked what everyone else had been up to the past two years since Kagome's last sickness, and the last time they had gotten together.

The air of depression never left though. Not one of them could forget what happened twelve years earlier. At seven, everyone had arrived and settled into their old rooms. The cooks called dinner at seven thirty. At eight thirty, everyone prepared for bed. At nine, everyone was in bed with the lights out. Not long after that, Haruhi was tossing and turning with nightmares.

-

Tamaki paced irritably back and forth, nearly wearing a hole in the floor. The others just didn't understand, he thought. While he was in France, he did find his mother. Talking to her made him realize that he didn't feel any form of familial relation to Haruhi.

Haruhi's disappearance had stirred something very primal in Tamaki, and her father's warning to stay away from her only made him want to tear up couch cushions in anger. Of course, being the French gentleman he was, Tamaki did manage to refrain from such barbaric actions and instead simply paced alone in his bedroom back at his mansion.

It had been a whole day since his rather hasty return, but since Haruhi's sudden kidnapping it had actually been _three_ days. Whoever this man was who stole Haruhi away… well, Tamaki could think nothing better than dropkicking the man in the chest—right off a cliff. A cliff that preferably had sharp, jagged rocks and a shallow pool at the bottom…

He groaned as he paused by his window, looking out of them and over the grounds his father owned. In the distance, he could make out a shrine atop a hill surrounded in trees. That was the very shrine where Tamaki's father had met his mother. Sure, she was a French woman, but she came to Japan to study abroad. Her parents had been fairly wealthy at the time before Tamaki's mother grew suddenly sick and medical bills put the once-wealthy family in debt.

But, even if it wasn't familial relation he felt for Haruhi… could he face the truth of the matter? Could he, knowing how Hikaru, Kaoru, and even Kyouya felt for her? He wasn't stupid. He was French, learned in the ways of romance and poetry.

Hikaru and Kaoru's love for Haruhi lay in her strange beauty. All of theirs did. There was something about her that simply demanded attention, and to ignore it would be kin to treason. All that time, Tamaki simply thought he felt a father's love for Haruhi, desiring to see her safe and happy. It wasn't true at all.

Another point for Hikaru and Kaoru's attraction lay in the fact that she was the _only_ one who could tell them apart, no matter how hard they tried to play the other. As two people who wanted nothing more than to be individually recognized (but at the same time, contradicting themselves by wanting to be viewed as a single whole) Haruhi provided a certain comfort for them. Someone in this world would always know who was who…

And Kyouya… it was hard to tell with him, but Tamaki was sure he hadn't misjudged his friend. Kyouya wanted to be recognized not as his siblings' younger brother or as his father's son. He wanted to be seen as himself. He wanted to stand alone, in a world where standing alone was difficult with people already at the top.

Haruhi had never seen Kyouya as an Ootori, per say, but rather… she viewed him as something else. She viewed him as an individual entity, aloof from the group. Tamaki had once heard her muttering something about a 'Shadow King' in reference to Kyouya.

In many ways, that was true about Kyouya. He was swift, underhanded, and he liked thinking he was able to manipulate people into doing what he wanted them to do. But Kyouya probably didn't realize what Tamaki had during his trip to France—the very reason why he had turned his phone off in a pit of self-loathing for not noticing sooner.

Kyouya was the first to notice Haruhi for who she was, being a girl. He probably knew who she was long before that vase even broke. And it had been Kyouya who had set that vase there in the first place. No, Kyouya wasn't stupid. He had probably long-since devised a plan to get Haruhi in debt to the club. And with each broken tea-cup… each shattered saucer… he added to that debt because he wasn't about to let Haruhi go.

It was a sad romance. The club had made twice that much money selling Haruhi's mechanical pencils and notebooks. She always thought she misplaced them, but it was hardly true. Kyouya had worked quick damage control when Haruhi found out one of her pencils had been sold, and he'd made her think it was just one…

But it was one, after another, after another.

He returned to pacing, his feet shushing on the floor. "So where the heck do I fit in?" he demanded.

When his phone started ringing, Tamaki threw himself across the room, grabbing it in hopes that it would be Haruhi calling. An image flew through his mind of Haruhi lying bare on a harsh stone floor, naked, bruised and bloodied, the tattered remains of her clothing lying in a soggy heap. "Tamaki, this Haruhi needs help…" the image cried piteously, and his heart ached painfully.

He flipped up the cover. _"Haruhi?!"_ his voice was strained and the image left him breathless and without very much energy to stand.

"No, my Lord," it was Hikaru…or Kaoru… one of them. "Kaoru found something you should look at. We're at Haruhi's apartment. Kyouya is on his way with Mori and Hunny."

Tamaki instantly had the energy to stand again as he screamed, _"You better not be going through her underwear!" _

He heard laughter. "No, my Lord. Only a closet pervert like you would do that!" The line went dead, and Tamaki hastily got himself dressed (he'd spent the entire afternoon in his pajamas once he got home from the Host club). Even after all the other's assurances that everything was okay, and Haruhi wasn't kidnapped… they were worried too…

**End.**


	3. An Old Framed Photograph

**Title: Experiment 23  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or "Inuyasha". _

Chapter three  
An Old Framed Photograph

"Look, my Lord." Hikaru said the instant Tamaki showed up at Haruhi's house. Again, he cursed how Haruhi was nowhere to be found. The red-head handed Tamaki a heart-shaped picture frame, painted red, and for a moment the bright lights in the apartment shone on the glass and created a glare that wouldn't let him view the picture.

He attempted to pull his mind away from his worries, looking around. The table was covered in pictures and papers. Kaoru was sorting the papers out, and piling the pictures. If it were ever found out that they were all in Haruhi's apartment without her permission, they already knew the girl would get mad. She was strange about privacy. For some reason, she never wanted them to know where she lived to begin with…

But desperate times called for desperate measures, and Haruhi had been kidnapped. Surely they could make an exception, just this third time? "I thought you called the others?" Tamaki asked, noticing their absence. The apartment was so small that even if the others were in another room, they would have heard it.

"We did," Hikaru nodded. "They're coming. Some people have patience." Tamaki disregarded the non-vocal implication that Tamaki would have had his driver speed all the way there.

Tamaki glanced down at the picture in the frame and was astounded at what he saw. "This is," he started, but the rest of the words caught in his throat. The hand holding the portrait started shaking and he nearly dropped it. It was just a second later that a thump against the outside of the door startled the three in the apartment into looking at the door.

They scrambled to hide the instant they heard Haruhi's voice, before they even had a chance to realize that her being at her house meant she wasn't actually kidnapped.

-

"Ouch!" Haruhi moaned, rubbing her hip from where she'd bumped her front door. "Remind me again why we're bringing this here?" she demanded of Miroku. She was flanked by three of her old friends. It was after ten PM, and she'd barely slept the past few days. Her only relief came in the fact that they hadn't slept much either. Miroku had stayed up late at night to relieve Sesshoumaru's bedside duties so he could get a little rest.

Hiten had flown up from the southern most island of Japan, but his plane flight was really cheap only due to the fact that the trip took him three full days to complete, meaning a lot of long layovers. She watched as the black haired Hiten set his large box down to take a second and rub his eyes. He, like Haruhi, hadn't wanted to get out of bed. But, of course, they hadn't been given much choice in the matter.

"This sucks ass," Hiten grumbled, leaning forward to take Haruhi's box from her. Although hers wasn't as heavy as the other three, it still weighed them all down much like the knowledge of a cruel, heartless world.

"Thanks, Hiten," she smiled at him, and he couldn't resist grinning back. She turned, reaching into her pocket. Her keys jingled as she pulled out the ring. She'd always been careful not to let the Host club see her keys. It wouldn't do to have them see she had more keys than she should, but she—like everyone else—had keys to the important doors in the shrine.

"Because," Miroku said as Inuyasha half dozed on his feet beside Miroku with a heavy box in his arms. "We were told to?" Haruhi got the door open and went to take her box from Hiten, but he simply grinned and walked past her to set the box in the interior. Haruhi was going to attempt getting his box for him, but as fast as a lightning bolt, Hiten was there to take it inside.

Once the four of them were inside, Haruhi shook her head at the mess. "Sorry about the mess, guys," she told them. Inuyasha huffed, but threw himself onto Haruhi's sofa after dropping his load on the floor rather haphazardly. Electronic items spilled out of the box. "I did tell papa not to make a mess this time on his way out, but I guess he didn't listen." She pointed to a cleared space in the corner of the small living room. "You can set that stuff over there."

Miroku and Hiten did as they were told as Haruhi fluttered around picking up the mess. Silence fell, but none of them really had to say anything at all to know how tense each of them felt. They had been close friends since childhood, since they had to share a small room with even smaller bunk beds in it.

Of course, Miroku wasn't usually one to stay in brooding mode long. With a smile forming on his lips, he opened his mouth. "Oh dear lord…" he sighed, "You made many many poor people. I realize of course, it's no shame to be poor… but it's no great honor either." He looked at the ceiling, his smile widening as Hiten started grinning and a small smile crossed Haruhi's lips. Inuyasha remained unreceptive, his arm slung over his face, appearing for all purposes to be asleep, but his cute puppy ears were twitching in recognition.

"So," Miroku continued, "what would have been so terrible… if I had, a small fortune?"

Hiten, grinning widely, continued where Miroku left off, his beautiful tenor somehow strange for the song, and yet so perfect. "If I were a rich man, yabe, dibe dibe, didy didy didy didy dum… All day long I'd biddy biddy bum, if I were a wealthy man! I wouldn't have to work hard. Yabe, dibe dibe, didy didy didy didy dum, if I were a biddy biddy rich… Idle, diddle dydle, dydle man."

Haruhi had to shove her fist into her mouth, quite literally to keep from laughing at the sight of Inuyasha's ears twitching like a duck's feet underwater. Their friend's entire body, cloaked in what looked like red drapery on his thin form, was tense, known to be so because laying as he was the cloth lay against his flesh.

Miroku pitched his voice and took the next verse. "I'd build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen, right in the middle of the town." Inuyasha was obviously no longer attempting to sleep. "A fine tin roof with real wooden floors below! There would be one long staircase just going up," Miroku mimed a person walking up stairs with his fingers, "and one even longer coming down…" Hiten mimed a person walking down stairs with his fingers, "and one more leading no where just for show." Both Miroku and Hiten shrugged their shoulders as if unsure where to go.

Unable to resist, Haruhi took a chance at singing, surprised the windows didn't shatter. Her voice wasn't the best, and she was far off-key, but Inuyasha took a couch pillow and shoved it over his flaming red face.

Yes, she remembered two years ago, the middle-school play. Fiddler on the Roof. Inuyasha had played Tevye, and instead of a serious play they ended up with a play that sent people into tears of sadness, the audience was put to tears with laughter. He was a great singer, true, and he was an excellent actor. However, his self-confidence was really bad and he had a case of stage fright on opening night, which caused him to keep screwing up. Due to how good he had been during practices, the part for Tevye didn't have an understudy either. All anyone had to do was hum the song and Inuyasha would turn colors.

In a time like what they had to go through, Haruhi and her friends only had each other. They had a circle, and no one entered it… ever. No exceptions were made… ever… So they had to do something to bring cheer to their frightful lives.

"I'd fill my yard with chicks and turkeys and geese and ducks for the town to see and hear," Haruhi couldn't finish as Inuyasha sat up and whipped the couch pillow at her and she had to duck, laughing so much her sides hurt.

There used to be twenty-five of them, but now there were only twenty-four. Still, since childhood, they trusted only those in their circle, and amongst their circle small cliques were formed; Sesshoumaru was almost always alone, although Jaken revered him as a prince and fawned on him doing whatever he could for Sesshoumaru.

Kikyou also remained on her own most of the time, reading books or helping with chores around the shrine so her little sister didn't have to, and her pregnant mother didn't have as much to do.

And there were others. Everyone just made their little cliques, and though they trusted everyone of their circle, they trusted those in their clique even more. They were closer to those in their clique. Kagome had been the only one who had been able to move easily from one clique to another, and no one worried if she would tell another group of what they said.

In that, she made it feel as though all twenty-five children were more than just children sharing a house. She made it feel like twenty-five children were siblings in the same home.

"Squawking just as noisily as they can! And each loud cheep, and squawk, and honk and quack," Hiten made some really crazy noises for the animals, "would land like a trumpet on the ear, as if to say here lives a wealthy man…"

Inuyasha got up off the couch, face as red as his clothes, and he struggled for something to deter their attention. "What are we doing here tonight?"

Miroku snickered. "Well, me and _my_ lovely wife Haruhi will make babies while you two do whatever you want," this time it was Haruhi's turn to blush profusely. She covered her face with her hands. She groaned as Hiten laughed at that too. He was easily amused.

Haruhi thought she heard something struggling in the living room closet, but it was such a soft noise she almost immediately discarded the thought.

Hiten said, "Hey, she's _my_ wife. Don't you go touching her body. It's reserved for me."

Inuyasha growled, in mock jealousy and possessiveness as he leapt over the table and swept Haruhi up into his arms. He nuzzled his nose against her warm neck as she squeaked and clung to him. "I don't think so." He said to the others, easily able to jump into the game the three had played since they were young. "She's mine."

"Guys!" she moaned mournfully, "I'm not your wife, any of yours!" She struggled against Inuyasha's strong embrace and could have sworn she heard something heavy in the closet moving… But then it was gone so fast that she disregarded it as nothing.

It was so easy to fall back into the past with these guys. She'd grown up with them, and they all shared a forced, painful past. None of them had asked for it, but then again, the past was the past. It was nothing that could just change, and they all knew it.

Once Miroku came to wake the three of them up—Hiten, Inuyasha, and Haruhi—they knew they had to get to work. It was more defining to how serious the situation really was this time. They usually had a few days to prepare, but not this time. Miroku said he and Naraku had been playing a quick game of Double Solitaire beside Kagome's bed when she woke in pain.

But even though that were the case, Haruhi's three friends were quick to fall back into their usual jests in an attempt to lighten the morose atmosphere around them. When they were little, the shrine had been full of people. It had been so full that the younger children had to share rooms. Haruhi had shared her room with the three boys before her; there was never a fear of something bad happening, and they were the reason she was still alive.

Shortly after it all happened, the boys decided she needed a permanent protector and each of them declared they would marry her. Sure, she was flattered they would still think of that, but still she knew the truth.

None of them really loved her like that. They were all siblings. They were all born to different parents, perhaps, but they were _created_ by the same company. They had no choice.

They were laughing at her. She sighed and stopped struggling; Inuyasha responded to shift her in his arms, her small form light and easy to hold for someone as strong as him. She could feel Inuyasha's voice rumble in his chest as he spoke low, and yet loud enough for them all to hear. "Just give up," Inuyasha said with amusement lacing his voice.

She remembered long nights of thunderstorms. Hiten was a light sleeper. She couldn't sleep during lightning storms. Miroku and Inuyasha were heavy sleepers, so the storms never bothered them. Even though Hiten would have slept through those storms, her terrified squeaking had woke him up every time, and he'd climb down from his bunk to look at her for a moment before he held her the rest of the night, making it safer for her.

She remembered days where Inuyasha would decide he wanted to climb a tree and he would come down with scratches and cuts as though he and the tree had fought. He never mentioned anything about those scratches, never said they hurt him, but Haruhi always got bandages and patched him up when their mothers weren't around to do it.

She remembered days of Miroku's lechery, where he would go around asking women to bear his children because he'd heard a birth control commercial say, "Not wearing protection is as good as walking around saying, 'Will you bear my child?'" Being young at the time, he hadn't understood the phrasing. He heard 'good' and thought it was something men were supposed to say to women to compliment them.

These three were her clique. They knew her best, and she knew them best.

"I know, I know." She said in resignation. "I still don't get why we came here to do this though." She was going to drag the subject back to the point, knowing none of them wanted it but at the same time they all knew it had to be. There was no other way about it; they had to do this.

Miroku's face took on a serious expression. "Didn't Sesshoumaru tell you?"

Inuyasha gently set Haruhi on her feet, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back to his chest. She was grateful for the support; she was really tired. It had been a long few days. Nightmares haunted her every night if she did manage sleep. Couldn't this just be over?

"No, he hasn't said a word to me. He picked me up from school and we walked home. Since then, all talk has been strained like always." She shook her head and sighed. "I'm always one of the first ones at home when it happens, Miroku you too, the atmosphere is always cold."

Hiten tugged lightly on his short braided pigtail. "Haru-chan," he began, and she glanced at her old friend from her place in Inuyasha's embrace. "The house's bugged. When Naraku, Kagura, and Kanna refused to follow orders and separate, they did it to keep an eye on things."

"What?" Haruhi frowned. She shrugged away from Inuyasha and he let her go—mostly. He did grab her wrist and clear his throat pointedly, glancing at the four boxes they'd brought. "Oh." She rubbed her forehead with her free hand, feeling almost overwhelmed with the desire to sleep and never wake. Coma patients didn't know how lucky they were…

Miroku again spoke up. "Why don't we order a pizza and some soda? Sesshoumaru gave me some money." A lecherous grin crossed his devil-incarnate lips. "Haruhi, my love, I would accompany you—" Miroku slid across the room, dragging Haruhi away from Inuyasha and pushing her to his chest as his hand inched down her backside.

Instantly Inuyasha and Hiten glared at Miroku. In near complete unison, they said, "If Haruhi's going, I'm going!"

Miroku's hand rubbed Haruhi's bottom and she screamed, "Pervert!" That time she knew she did hear a struggle in the closet. 'I should have known,' she thought. She wasn't bold enough to slap her friend. Not like Kagome or any of the other girls in their number would do, but she was furious. She was always furious. She suspected he liked making girls mad.

"All of you leave!" she yelled. "I need some time to think, and you'll just get into a fight if one of you stays! So you can all go get some food. Maybe I'll let you in when you come back!"

Miroku clapped his hands together, shrugged, and left. Hiten and Inuyasha frowned at Miroku, but they generally didn't make a habit of arguing with her unless it was the fun kind. This definitely wasn't the fun kind. She was really mad.

-

Once they were down on the street, Inuyasha asked, "You did that on purpose, didn't you? You heard the noises… someone's there. I could smell them." He walked with his hands folded in his sleeves, his hair whipping haphazardly in the wind.

Miroku smirked at his friend. "Relax. I don't doubt our Haruhi can take care of herself, and neither should you. After all… she's one of the Last of us. She's capable."

Inuyasha scowled. Hiten said what Inuyasha was thinking. "Except that being one of the Last doesn't always mean anything. Remember 25 and what happened that night?"

Miroku sighed. "He was, what, five years old? And our Haruhi is sixteen. Don't judge Haruhi like that. She's taken care of herself for a year since middle school. If 25 hadn't created a diversion, none of us would have gotten out period."

-

He could have sworn Haruhi's scream sent him over the edge. He was listening to her being abused by those ruffians out there, and Hikaru was restraining him while Kaoru kept a firm grip on his vocals. They kept threatening to knock him out if he didn't stay still and quiet. But Tamaki didn't care, and the minute Haruhi screamed like that, even Hikaru wanted to slam out of the closet. Kaoru had a hard time restraining both of them, so they'd knocked a broom over and it clattered.

Needless to say, all of them had nearly had a heart attack. What if someone heard that and checked on it? Then, as they attempted to find something to hide behind should someone open the door to the very small cupboard, Kaoru slipped on a bucket, making a slightly louder raucous.

Hikaru tried to steady Kaoru, but the two tumbled and hit the back wall. Then, with a loud crashing noise, the wall suddenly turned, and Hikaru and Kaoru disappeared into a crack that instantly sealed itself with no small amount of force. As soon as the twins were gone, Tamaki was blinded by light as the cupboard was thrown open and cleaning items crashed around Tamaki and the photo still gripped in his hand.

Haruhi looked fairly calm, but he could see she was clenching her teeth in a false smile, and her eyes were wide as though she were really a mass murderer. It was the exact reason why Haruhi—normally incredibly lazy—was so scary when angered.

Instantly images of death fluttered through Tamaki's mind. "It wasn't me," he said, waving his hands in what he hoped to be a placating manner as he tripped over the broom and hit the wall. Unfortunately it didn't swallow him like it had Hikaru and Kaoru. He just whacked his head real hard.

-

It was Tamaki. Haruhi should have known he would come back, panic, and snoop. But as he waved the picture, her anger faded into nothingness. When he fell, she attempted to save him by grabbing his arm, but he was heavy and she only ended up falling prostrate on him, half straddling him.

For a second, he looked dazed. "Tamaki-senpai?" she asked softly, waving a hand in front of his face. His eyes slowly began to follow her hand. Then a bright blush crossed his face, and she wondered if he was embarrassed to have been caught. "Are you okay, Tamaki-senpai?"

"Um, yes, I'm alright," he said. She knew he would have questions. Maybe she could even fully address them and send him on his way before the guys got back. She was really glad it was just Tamaki. He could be a clueless idiot sometimes. But if it were any of the other Host members, especially Kyouya… she'd have a hard time explaining it.

"Well," she started moving to get off him, but his fingers wrapping gently on her chin caused a terrible blush to form across her cheeks, and warmth to spread through her veins. He was gentle with her, but she couldn't resist looking into his warm blue eyes. His slightly disheveled blond hair fell in his face, and it was only sheer force that kept her from idiotically reaching up to brush it away.

What was she thinking anyway? He'd think her crazy for doing it, if something as simple as a chunk of hair in his eyes bothered her. She hastily pulled herself away from him. "You should probably get out of the closet," she said. "You're sitting in spilled bleach." The smell was distinctive enough to let her know instantly what the liquid on the floor was.

She left him there and entered her father's room. He had left most of his male clothes, so she grabbed the first ones she could find and gave them to the half-wet boy. Tamaki looked at her with a frown. He'd left the closet floor at least, and stood in the kitchen. "It's just a little liquid, what harm is that? It'll dry."

She couldn't help but grin at a rich boy's ignorance to common cleaning solutions. "Look at your backside, Tamaki-senpai?" He turned his head and his eyes widened. The once dark black jean material of his pants was turning red for some reason. "Here you go." He accepted them without further complaint. "You can take a shower, or you'll get liquid on the new clothes too. There's probably a towel hanging on the door."

As she waited for him to finish up, she finished cleaning the apartment, and wiped up the spill. She picked the picture he'd had up from the floor of the closet. Her hand brushed the glass over the tiny faces. It wasn't an especially large picture. There was a group of children, all of them with their mothers. All in all, there were twenty-five children ranging from age two to age seven, but there were fewer mothers than that.

That was just a few days before the incident happened. They had all been so happy. They didn't know that the world was evil. All of them with their ordinary looks, with nothing special about any of them. They all lived in the shrine, happily. Brown hair, red hair, black hair, blond hair. Blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes, black eyes. Pale skin, dark skin, tan skin. All of them were _normal._

Now they were numbered as much as their days. They were lucky to have survived as long as they had. But Kagome was getting worse, and someone had to do something. By now, if it really was true that the shrine was bugged, then the Lab would know that they were all together again.

She walked into the living room and sat on the couch, mindless to the fact that even though she missed the bleach when she landed on Tamaki she didn't miss it when she was cleaning it up and it was soaking off her knee-length skirt hem. Turning the photo frame over in her hands, she pulled the backing off. There, hidden behind the photo was a second photo, folded into quarters.

She delicately unfolded it. The first group picture any of them could manage was two years after the incident. But there was so much missing from the photo. No longer was it a picture of mothers and children. It was a picture of twenty-four children. Silver hair, blond hair, blue hair, green hair, pink hair, brown hair, black hair, white hair. Gold eyes, green eyes, red eyes, black eyes, yellow eyes, blue eyes, pink eyes, white eyes. Pale skin, gold skin, skin like scales, dark skin, red skin, tan skin.

Animal ears, tails, feet, hands, features. They were not normal! They were not natural. They could not regain what had been lost. She brushed a tear away and folded the picture again, putting it away. None of them looked happy. They all surrounded Kagome; she was in a wheelchair in the picture.

That was just a few days before the Lab ordered them to separate. That was just a week after Haruhi's mother died. At first, they had just gone to different families around Tokyo. They'd kept in contact with letters. Even then it did take several years until _everyone_ was taken out of the shrine. Haruhi could remember dictating letters to her dad and him writing them for her when she had broken her arm in elementary.

They'd all known they were in the same city, so they planned and coordinated things so they would all be together in middle school. That was when Sesshoumaru informed her what she could do to keep her promise, although it would require a lot of hard work and she would need to get into Ouran High School for the best chances of succeeding.

And when they all had to separate, as Haruhi and the twenty-three other children sat by themselves for the last time they thought they ever would for a long time, they promised each other to do their part to find out why it had been done to them. To relinquish the control the Lab had.

To eliminate the threat…

At _all_ cost. After all, their mothers gave everything for them. The Higurashi's were still giving up everything. And _he_ gave everything too… 25. That's what everyone called him, because he was the last of the Last.

Once more, she turned the photo over in her hands and her eyes came to rest on a buzz-cut blond. His half-inch fine sun-yellow strands were jutting up into the air, and he was leaning on the younger version of Miroku. His blue eyes were smiling as he gave a peace sign to the camera. Both he and Miroku had identical slaps on their faces. His face was rather pudgy, but he did love eating Ramen and peanut butter bread.

She got up and returned the photo to its proper place, hidden in her mother's Zuka Club files. She replaced the Zuka file box just as Tamaki exited the shower, bare from the waist up. "Your father's a lot thinner than I am," he explained, the towel wrapped around his neck. His face and torso gleamed with water. He was drying his hair with one end of the towel. "My shoulders are too broad for his shirt."

For some reason, he seemed calmer. Readier. Certain.

She stood up and smiled. "Are you at all ready to explain why you are at my house… without me?" She wasn't smiling happily. It was a morose smile, as the world weighed on her and told her of the things she would soon be doing. For a moment, they stood there regarding each other. She told him, "And don't lie. I'll know."

Tamaki shook his head much like a dog would have, water droplets flying from the tips of his short hair, and a clump of wet hair clung to his forehead. She almost wished for a moment that Tamaki had been one of the others—at least they would have been smart enough to realize that standing half bare and wet in a lady's presence was somehow very _wrong_.

A small part of her mind disagreed.

"We all were worried about you," he told her sincerely. "…I was worried…"

"I thought you were supposed to be in France!" she couldn't stop herself from frowning and putting a hand on her hip in an air of disappointment. "You're supposed to be with your mom! Just because I have been gone a few days doesn't mean you should just hop a plane back!"

He didn't look at her as he said his next words, almost as if he were carefully choosing them. "That picture… where did you get it?"

She was so surprised at the abrupt change in subject that she answered without thinking. "Twelve years ago, at Sunset Shrine. I lived there with others just before moving here with my father. Why?"

Tamaki's next response made Haruhi's heart skip a few beats. "It's just strange, because the exact same photo is in my mother's home."

Haruhi's feet carried her unwittingly to the couch and she sat down, his words repeating themselves over and over in her mind. Implanted in her eyes, almost like it were all she could see, was the photo. The one boy who never made it back, who everyone thought died for them, could it be?

She didn't want it to be true. She wanted it to be a lie. He died. He was dead! He could never come back. "Liar," she found herself saying.

Tamaki sat next to her, his fingers gripping her chin in a delicate hold. Once more, fire ran through her veins at his touch, and the image of the boy in the photo disappeared, replaced by what might be his older self. Those cheerful blue eyes smiled in amusement as he asked his question. "Do you wish me to take you to France and prove it?"

"You wouldn't." she insisted stubbornly.

"Is that because you think I don't have the funds to do so, or because you're afraid I'm right? Because I'm not afraid of being proved wrong…" he chuckled and released her chin. All she could think was, 'Damn, it's him, it's really really him!'

"Forget the picture," she said, forcing herself to look away from him and at her hands. She wasn't sure she could do what was best for him if she looked at him. He didn't have to throw his life away. He didn't have to be involved. If he really remembered what happened… he would have mentioned something sooner. "Forget the picture, forget me, and get out of my house."

She knew he was stunned. Her tone took on a hard edge. Her lip curled as she strengthened her resolve to get rid of him before the guys came back. "Haruhi…" Tamaki stammered, but she got up off the couch with a newfound strength.

"No!" she said, pointed at him with an accusatory finger. She would not have him destroy his life. She would not let him ruin himself. The truth that she knew of the boy 25 could not be revealed as the true past of Tamaki Souh. If the two were really one and the same, he did _not_ need to know. "Get out! I said get out!"

"Haruhi, was it something I said?" he asked, his voice almost mouse-like. He was almost in brood-mode. He would go into a rut for hours, most likely. But when it was over, he would realize she was right to get rid of him.

"OUT!" She marched over and opened the front door, surprised to see that Kyouya was about to knock on the aluminum surface. Behind him was Mori and Hunny. Hunny seemed happy to see her, but she couldn't stop now. "ALL OF YOU GET OUT!" she was almost bellowing at the top of her lungs, and they were completely stunned. Tamaki sighed, but he went out the door.

"Forget about me," she told them all. "Forget you ever knew me. The only thing you will cause me is _trouble_! I have had enough!" And finally, she slammed the door in their faces before hurrying into the bathroom and turning the faucet on full, sobbing even as she attempted to wash away the tears so Inuyasha couldn't smell them with his keen nose.

She hated herself for doing it, but it was for Tamaki's sake.

Yes, she remembered 25. He was a plump, happy boy who ate whatever he could get his hands on. He had an endless stomach. But being the son of a rape victim, no clue who his father was… certainly that couldn't be Tamaki? But she was sure she had done the right thing, just in case.

-

Kyouya looked at the morose visage of Tamaki. Out of all of them, Kyouya could say he knew Tamaki the best. But the look on Tamaki's face was one he had never encountered before, at least on Tamaki. Tamaki stared at the door to Haruhi's apartment, almost as though her angry eyes were still burned there on the wall.

But, surprisingly, Tamaki simply turned and left without argument. He wasn't usually like that. He would put up a fight for the things he wanted, and everyone knew Tamaki wanted Haruhi. Kyouya was annoyed at his own irritation toward being told to forget Haruhi. He couldn't just forget her. He'd done so much to get her in the club's debt, knowing the outcome would be profitable.

Unsure what to do, and due to the fact that Hunny was rather upset, they agreed to disperse for the night. Kyouya followed Tamaki, startled that the boy would walk rather than call his driver to pick him up.

It was a silent walk, a very _long_ walk, until they got to Tamaki's mansion. Tamaki didn't tell Kyouya not to come in, so Kyouya took it upon himself to create invitation inside. He went to his piano room instead of anywhere else. He didn't bother to finish getting dressed either, though for some odd reason it bothered Kyouya to think that Tamaki was alone at Haruhi's without a shirt on.

That brought to mind the twins, and Kyouya couldn't help but wonder where they were. Tamaki sat at his piano and opened it, his fingers striking the keys in a morose tone. "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven; it was one of Tamaki's favorites for unknown reasons.

A few measures into the song, Kyouya settled himself on a chair near the piano. "Tamaki," Kyouya said a short while in, as Tamaki's eyes closed and tears built in Kyouya's eyes despite he hadn't asked for them to be there. Tamaki was a master at the piano, and the emotion he put into it conveyed into the listener.

"I know," Tamaki said without opening his eyes. "Have you ever wondered what music would be like without pain? Without suffering?" His question seemed more rhetorical than anything; one of those questions no one expected an answer to. As expected, Tamaki continued in a few moments. "It was a picture," Tamaki's fingers smashed the keys down in nonsensical order, startling Kyouya enough that his glasses slid down his nose.

Pushing his glasses back into proper place, silence pervading the atmosphere with the last vestiges of the notes dying on the breath of the air, Kyouya asked, "What picture?"

"Not just a picture," Tamaki shook his head, as if not wanting to believe it himself. "It was _the_ picture. It was the picture that told the truth. The picture that gave the proof of that truth, and the last picture that would be taken that incorporated everyone." Tamaki leaned his elbows on the keys. The noises of the mismatched sounds were like a dying man's ragged breathing.

Kyouya didn't dare make a sound. Tamaki was worlds away, speaking in Japanese and yet in a language that even the perspicacious Kyouya did not understand. This was, somehow, not the same Tamaki that had been in school earlier that day. He had been replaced with this morose creature that harbored an identical face.

"The story, if you're interested, began twenty years ago…"

-

"Hikaru," Kaoru asked his brother as they wandered endlessly through what appeared to be sewer tunnels. "Where are we?"

Hikaru had fewer clues as to their whereabouts than his brother, but as they had started walking, they conveniently lost the place they started out in. Of course, there were countless ladders that led up to metal roofs, so that didn't help them.

Their feet were wet in the drainage runoff from the streets, but to them it may as well have been sludge from the bottom of a swamp. They were cold, they were annoyed, and they were getting rather hungry.

Hikaru stopped at one such ladder—exactly like the hundreds of others they had passed—and glanced up toward the darkness above. "Do you think the metal roof will move?" he asked his brother.

"I'm not sure, Hikaru. I would have thought commoners to be smart enough not to waste tons of metal on ladders that lead nowhere." Of course, Kaoru had asked that the very first ladder they stopped at.

-

Haruhi finally managed to stop crying and turned the water off. At a knock on her door, she went to answer it, figuring it to be her old friends. It wasn't. It was the cheerful young Hunny, standing at the door with his bunny tucked under his arm. Mori was nowhere in sight, which was incredibly surprising as Haruhi had rarely seen the two apart.

There was a panicked look on Hunny's face. "Can I come in, Haruhi?" he asked. "I lost Takashi, and I don't have my phone, and I don't have my car, and I don't know how to get home!"

Haruhi sighed. "For a minute, I suppose." She stepped aside. She couldn't just leave him out there. Despite the fact that Hunny was older than her, he was almost child-like. His eyes could not be turned down.

"Yay!" Hunny cheered and hopped into the apartment, tossing his shoes by the door. Haruhi noted that not only were Tamaki's shoes _still_ there, which meant he went home without them, but two additional, completely identical pairs were there as well. The twins must have hidden themselves well, because there weren't many places to hide in her home.

Haruhi went and set a pot of tea to boil. As Hunny made himself comfortable on her sofa, she took down a box of instant brownies, added water, and mixed them up before turning the oven on and putting them inside the oven.

By the time the water was boiling and Haruhi had made two glasses of tea, the buzzer on the oven was going off and she could take the brownies out to cool. She took the cups of tea into the living room and set one in front of Hunny on the coffee table.

"Did you use my phone to call Mori?" Haruhi asked. She assumed Hunny had because her cell phone was on the table. Hunny nodded cheerily. Haruhi smiled at him, her insides once more curling in on themselves because of her cruelty. She shoved them all away because something was _possible_. It wasn't proven! How could she?

"Don't you like us anymore, Haruhi?" Hunny asked suddenly, his nose flaring as he smelled sweets. He hadn't had any for days. But tears welled in his eyes as though the very thought of her not liking him was heartbreaking. "I like you, Haruhi!"

Haruhi set her teacup down and put her hands in her lap, picking at her skirt hem. It was still slightly damp with bleach. "I'm… going through a rough time, I guess." Haruhi admitted. "I just… can't handle everything all at once." It wasn't a total lie.

"Haruhi, we'd help you. Do you need money? We have money!" Hunny seemed determined to get her back on his side. It was cute, really, but not the thing she needed.

Haruhi shook her head. "No, Hunny-senpai. It's not that. It's just… a friend of mine has fallen ill. She needs a special medicine, but the people who make the medicine won't let her have it. My friends and I have to try to convince the people to give us the medicine, or she could die." It was half true. Haruhi and her friends were after a medicine, and the people who had it did not want to give it to them.

But they weren't going to convince them in a nice way. They were going to sneak into the Lab, and _take_ the medicine. It was the only way. They'd done it before, several times, so they practically had it mastered by then. Sneak in, take it, sneak out.

And if Tamaki was really 25 as it seemed to be implicated by how his mother had a portrait of them all at Sunset Shrine, then Haruhi was going to do whatever she could to keep him out of the trouble she was in. The rest of them thought '25' was dead, and that he died that fateful night twelve years ago.

She didn't doubt they would agree with her if they knew he was alive that Tamaki had given enough, but she wasn't going to take that chance either. Still, a part of her whispered that it was really Tamaki's choice to give more or not…

"You're not telling everything," Hunny accused. He set his bunny on his lap and opened its back up, the Velcro straps making a scratching noise as they parted. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Haruhi. Confused, she took it and opened it.

It was a letter from Haruhi's father, surprisingly.

"Dear Haninozuka family," it read, and Haruhi felt her heart sinking already. The letter was dated three days ago.

"I know this is abrupt, but you did give me your word ten years ago at the funeral. Haruhi is a growing girl, but she doesn't ask for much that she could not get on her own. I hope you will take care of her, as I know already that my time has expired. Please protect her. Ranka."

Haruhi's brow furrowed in confusion. Her father? Why would they want her father? She understood her mother, but her father was just a cheerful drunk okama.

Hunny said, "I was surprised when my father told me about it, and that under no circumstances was I to come home today without you. So, Haruhi," Hunny's tone took on a businesslike edge, "what exactly did my father and your father have? How did they know each other? And what promise was made? What aren't you telling me?"

Haruhi had no choice now. "My mother, as you know, died ten years ago. My mother was a lawyer. She went to Ouran High School too, where she met many people… But she was a fan of the Zuka club, as was your mother, I guess. My mother introduced your father to your mother, which was how the Haninozuka family ended up going to my mother's funeral. Your father told my father if there was anything he could ever do for him, to just ask. My father requested if anything were to happen to him, that the Haninozuka family take care of me and protect me."

"But why?" Hunny asked.

"Because it's a dangerous world, Hunny," Haruhi said. She wondered why she wasn't taking it harder to know her father could possibly have been killed. He was supposed to be with family! He was supposed to be away from the city during this time. He wasn't supposed to be off gallivanting about and being a noble okama! Why couldn't he listen?!

"Haruhi, will you come with me?" Hunny asked.

She looked mournfully at Hunny. "I can't." She stood and went into the kitchen to grab the brownies. It struck her as odd how long her friends had been gone. They should have been back already.

"Why can't you?"

"Because…" Haruhi sighed. She put a small saucer in front of him and scooped a brownie onto the plate. "Because a rich child won't ever understand… Because there is more than just sweets and stuffed animals to life… because you… haven't been exposed… and I won't do that to you. That is why you must forget about me. I'll be taken care of. I'll come back to school eventually. But this is a rollercoaster that cannot be stopped."

Hunny didn't eat the sweet. He stared for a long time at Haruhi. "Haruhi… please just try to explain it? Pretend I'm Kyouya if you have to! I'll understand!"

Haruhi regarded Hunny for a long moment. Then, seeing the determination in his eyes, she relented. "Alright… the story… starts twenty years ago."

**End.**


	4. Tamaki's Story

**Title: Experiment 23  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or "Inuyasha". _

Chapter four  
Tamaki's Story

Twenty years ago, a young French woman of moderate wealth entered the exchange program to study abroad in Japan. She was a beautiful woman. Lush blond hair, long lashes framing the bluest eyes anyone had ever seen, a curvaceous huggable body… Men wanted her, and women wanted to be her.

She was studying at Lobelia, and living with the Souh family. It was around that time that the heir to the Souh family fortune and business had been engaged. He fell for the young French woman though, unable to resist her charms. Rather than courting his betrothed, the heir would take the lovely French woman out and he would be admired and hated for his company—admired by other men, hated by other women.

For two years, they were happy this way and the wedding kept being postponed. However, on her way home from Lobelia one late night, the one time he had not been by her side after a musical the Zuka club put on, she was grabbed and thrown into the backseat of a car, driven kicking and screaming to a prominent home in the hills.

She did not know why she was brought to the place, only that upon her arrival, she was met with a glowering old man who she could remember seeing in the audience during one of her many performances with the Zuka club.

She was tossed onto a bedroom floor and left alone with the old man. She was not a strong woman. She was a dainty, primped woman of a noble French family. The first words out of the old man's mouth were, "Take off your clothes."

She resisted, demanding to know why she had been brought to his home. The man was not a patient one, however. He said it again. "Take off your clothes."

When she didn't comply, he walked over to her like liquid silk and slapped her off her feet. She sprawled on the floor on her back and he tore her clothes off like they were simply rags. He used rope to tie her to his bed, and all that night he raped her again and again, beating her for every cry she let out, and he received vicious bite marks on any body part she could get a hold of for his efforts.

At dawn, she was half-dead from blood loss because he'd torn so viciously into her. He had his servants take her and throw her in a gutter in the city. That was where a young Japanese woman found her.

The woman helped the French woman back to her home, a small Shrine outside the city. It wasn't long before the French woman was found by the Souh family, but she refused to go back. She stayed at the shrine, where the family had dedicated themselves to taking in rape victims and helping them cope with what had happened.

The woman had a child nine months later. She named the boy, Tamaki, and kept him because he looked like her and not like her rapist. She couldn't see the rapist in the boy. She vowed to teach him to grow up well and proper.

The heir to the Souh family, who she fell in love with, refused to let her go. It was at that time, when she had been thought lost, that he realized he loved her and not his betrothed. The wedding was finally set, but he called it off.

"I will marry none but her." He said. His mother had been fully aware of what happened to the young French woman, and refused the match with a ferocity rivaled by that of a volcano. Had the young French woman not been defiled, then perhaps it would have been an okay arrangement.

So the French woman remained at the shrine, taking care of her son and helping the other women at the shrine. Tamaki grew up with many others, and after five years, his picture with twenty-four other children and their mothers was taken. Unfortunately the happy life amongst family ended only a few days later.

Soldiers garbed in black stormed the shrine. The mothers were shot protecting their children. The children were all taken away to the place called the 'Lab'. They were injected with poisons and had their heads shaved bald. Numbers were tattooed onto the backs of their heads so their captors—who had no use for names—could identify them. Their bodies changed with the poisons flowing through their veins. For days they were experimented on. For weeks they were tested.

It felt like months and years. They suffered the entire time.

But when it was over, they were called the "Last", and declared successes… all except the first of the Last, a young girl who fell deathly ill, her body unable to handle the strain. The Lab decided that she was the only failure and once she was culled, they could begin other projects. The children didn't like that, so even though they were young, ranging from age two to seven, they put their heads together in a plot to outsmart their captors.

It almost failed, but at the last minute, the last of the Last fell back to create a diversion. He was only five, but he knew it was life or death for them and if the others could survive, he would give them that.

The others got out. Experiment 25 was captured again. When the Souh family heard of what happened to the shrine where the heir's beloved had been staying, all of their favors were called on to find out what happened.

The young French woman, distraught over the loss of her son, had fallen to sickness. Most of the mothers had been either killed or seriously injured during the assault that had taken the children away. Even when most of the children were found, unaware of their whereabouts in an old abandoned warehouse, there was still one missing.

Experiment 25, who had once been named Tamaki, was not with the others. The heir to the Souh family fortune was irate at the news. He had spent much time with the boy, and was viewed as a father, looked up to, and Tamaki's disappearance nearly killed his mother.

But eventually calling on favors did work. An old friend managed to track Tamaki and the man responsible for the assault was found. Souh confronted the man and found something that sent fire through his blood. Months had passed since his recapture, and Tamaki was leashed at the side of the very man he belonged to; the one who was his father.

At first, Souh did not know that Tamaki was the vile cretin's son, but it was quickly revealed. "Do you not like what I do with my son?" the man asked, a hard edge to his voice and yet he sounded amused more than anything. "Surely you do not oppose me? What I do will benefit the medical world. It is for the good of the population, not just me."

"But sure, I seek a path to immortality. I do not plan to allow my sons to inherit." The man added thoughtfully.

"What do you care?" Souh demanded. His heart broke as he looked at the pitiful form of what had once been a child. There was hardly anything child-like about it anymore and he had to wonder if it were really Tamaki. But those beautiful blue eyes gave him away, so much like his mothers. "He's no more your son than he is mine! You raped my beloved! You bastard, let Tamaki go!"

The man sneered at Souh before scooping up the small, lethal creature of the night. A furry cat-boy, covered with black hair, thin as a rail. Paws were where feet and hands should have been, a long tail covered in black hair twining around the waist. For the most part, he was still human shaped, but he was definitely no longer ordinary.

He wore no clothes, but needed none as he was completely covered in the black cat hair. "Experiment 25 was the greatest success," the man laughed. "He has brought me closer to immortality than any of the others. All I have to do is promise him his mother, and he dutifully submits to my testing! But I am no fool. His mother will be dead in weeks, and he is too far gone to understand!"

Unfortunately for the man, the cat-boy _could_ understand. He hissed and was no longer still in the man's grip. Claws, dangerous and sharp, slashed across the man's face, leaving a long, vicious set of wounds that bled openly. The boy was dropped and he tore across the room to hide behind the familiar set of legs cloaked in white. A bloody paw left a print on the white legs.

Souh took a chance and picked up the child. "I will never forgive you for this," he said as the man screamed in pain over the bleeding slash marks on his face.

Souh had almost lost hope for Tamaki and his mother could not recognize her son and only continued to get worse. But just when Souh was ready to give up on Tamaki ever having a normal life again, the child seemed to wake up one day as a young boy again, no signs of the cat anywhere except that the once pudgy child was now thin as a rail and no matter how much he ate, he would not gain weight.

Slowly Tamaki's mother returned to moderate health, but never fully recovered. After that it was decided that she would return to France with Tamaki to be hidden away from the crazed psychopath who had destroyed both of them. It wasn't until several years later that the Souh family decided to make Tamaki the heir.

Upon returning to Japan, Tamaki's first order of business was to go see all his friends, to make sure they were alive. Unfortunately the heir's mother forbade Tamaki from going. He hated it, especially since he could see the shrine out of his bedroom window every day…

He was under constant surveillance, a special team put together to keep an eye on Tamaki, especially for him… especially for his 'special' talents…

**End.**


	5. Haruhi's Story

**Title: Experiment 23  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or "Inuyasha". _

Chapter five  
Haruhi's Story

Haruhi sighed. She really didn't want to tell Hunny. If he knew, his reaction would be the same as everyone else's had always been. Those few who knew were disgusted by what she had been turned into. But she supposed she did owe Hunny at least an explanation, if he would get into trouble for not bringing her back.

She began, hoping against all odds that he would be different. The only place she was truly accepted was at home…at the shrine. "Twenty years ago?" Hunny prompted when she fell silent, pondering what really should be mentioned first.

"No, not twenty years ago. It was longer," she shook her head. "I'm not sure of the details. My mom knew so much…" her voice trailed off and she pushed her tongue around in her mouth wondering. Her dad must have gotten himself involved more than he let on… She only hoped her suspicions were wrong and he was not dead. "My mom died because of me. She was on a huge case involving human experimentation."

Hunny looked stunned. It was almost self-explanatory. "Haruhi, what," he started, but she pinned him with a gloomy stare that told him if he said anymore she would lose her nerve and he would never know the truth… her truth…

"My mom is the second daughter of Tokiro Higurashi, a moderately wealthy man who makes a decent living by selling religious trinkets. Twenty years ago, my mom still lived with grandpa Higurashi and Aunt Aris. She met my dad through an arranged match that grandpa set up. Dad was the son of the owner of a chain of okama bars, sure to inherit decent wealth. But then my paternal grandpa lost the chain in a gamble after the wedding, so grandpa Higurashi told them…"

-

_"No." Tokiro stated firmly, his lips pursed in anger. The Fujioka family had given him plenty of trouble with the gambling. He had thought that it would be best for his daughter Kotoko if she could be supported by a moderately wealthy family rather than marrying into love, and that was what he had done._

_He had been so sure he chose a logical family, but apparently they were a far cry different while drunk._

_"But father!" Kotoko pleaded, "We're married. Let me live with him. You didn't mean for me to fall in love, but I did!" She placed a hand on her swelling stomach. "Would you have me raise my child alone?"_

_Ryoji remained silent, knowing that his father had done wrong by him, but knowing also that there was nothing really to be done for it. Tokiro hissed in anger at his daughter, waving to the women who were everywhere in the shrine, taking care of their children… alone. "Are you suggesting my daughter cannot do something on her own?" he demanded. "I, who raised two girls myself!"_

_"And look what it did!" Kotoko yelled right back. "Aris has no motivation at all and spends her time fawning over that pea-brained goat you married her to! And me? I've got a degree in law, but you—YOU!—won't let me get a job in the field! So you'll pay for the education but restrict me from the job?"_

_"Kotoko, I said no!" Tokiro bellowed. "You will not see Ryoji Fujioka! He will leave!" Both of them looked around at that moment for Ryoji, but realized too late that the silent man had left without saying a word._

_After that, Kotoko tried everything, and looked everywhere for Ryoji but could not find him. Her pregnancy began to fail, and she lost the child due to a miscarriage. It was only that which allowed Tokiro to see that he had made a grave mistake._

_He didn't say anything to apologize; words didn't need to be said between the two. They understood each other. Within days, Ryoji showed up. He alone was able to cheer Kotoko up after the loss of a baby boy. The child was buried with the rest of the Higurashi family, and four years later, Kotoko had her second child, a healthy giggly girl. She was named Haruhi, after Haru, Kotoko's first child._

-

Haruhi's smile was strained. "My mom always said I look like my would-be older brother, though I never really know how she came about that opinion."

"And that's why you can't come?" Hunny asked, not believing it.

"No," Haruhi shook her head. "The reason is not as simple. That's just the start. Twelve years ago, the place my mom and dad lived… my grandpa's home was attacked by black soldiers. Grandpa's shrine had always been a place of peace. He took in mothers and children of abused families and rape victims. Widows who could not support themselves and their children came to stay with grandpa. Twelve years ago, there had been twenty-five children, including myself."

Haruhi urged Hunny to eat the brownies. He did so slowly, almost as though he worried if he ate it too fast she might stop talking. He had attached himself to the story with wide eyes filled with worry. "What happened? What did the soldiers do?"

"They killed." Haruhi said simply. "They killed, and killed, and then, they took all twenty-five of us children. We were taken to the Lab and these scientists injected us with poison after poison that burned through our veins. They would inject us, and then test us. The poisons did something to our bodies—no one is really sure what we are anymore. But we're not entirely human either."

Hunny was on the edge of his seat. "What, what do you mean?"

Haruhi sighed and got up off the chair she'd been sitting in. She supposed showing him was the only she would be fully understood. From within her, she found the ball of power as she liked to call it. Some of the others called it the remaining poison. She couldn't think of it that way, at least not if she wanted to keep her sanity. She pushed her hair behind her ear before spreading her hands out and uncoiling the ball of power through her blood. It didn't take more than a few seconds before she began to shift and her eyes remained on Hunny as he watched hair sprout from her flesh; short black hairs everywhere.

Her face altered, and her dress stuck on a newly curvaceous body with fleshy breasts that she most certainly did not have as her normal self. She had paws for feet and stood on the hind feet as well as any regular human would. The dress that once seemed so modest on her now looked something a dime-whore would wear.

Her hands too were paws, covered in fur, and she let out a soft 'mew' rather than a sigh. But she didn't stop there. She concentrated harder on that ball of power and turned it to finish the job it started. Her body shed the hair and then left her with smooth, perfect flesh, a mouth of sharp teeth, claws, pointed elf-like ears, and yet her feet and hands were human-like again. She knew she was beautiful, but at the same time… _it _was ugly. She was an 'it'.

Hunny's jaw dropped and he beamed at her. "You're the most cute thing I have ever seen!" He looked like he was holding himself back from squeezing the life out of her. She felt a small, genuine smile cross her face.

"Really?" she asked, a small blush crossing her face.

He nodded enthusiastically. Apparently he couldn't stop himself from hugging her though, and he scrambled the two feet (bunny forgotten) and wrapped his arms around her, nearly crushing her ribs in the process. "Cutie, cutie!" Haruhi remembered belatedly that Hunny loved all things cute and fuzzy.

"Air… ow…" she wheezed, but was still pleased. For once, someone didn't find her disgusting, and that someone belonged to a group other than at 'home' where everyone else had the same problem. No, a normal human liked it.

It was a start…

Hunny released her in embarrassment and then scratched the back of his neck. "Um, yeah, um, so you got this way…" he said quietly.

Haruhi's smile broadened. She continued this time without the hesitation of before. It was a story she didn't want to tell, but she no longer worried about it. "Yes, twelve years ago they experimented on us. We were there so long that the numbers they assigned us became all we knew and we forgot our own names. My cousin, Kagome Higurashi, fell sick under the pressure of the poisons. Her body couldn't take them all. They were going to kill her, but none of us would allow it so we made our escape."

Hunny again sat down. By then he had the whole tray of brownies in his hands and he was scooping them up with his fork, making a mess of his face. It was hard to remember that Hunny was older than Haruhi.

"We almost escaped, but ran into a tight spot. So, Experiment 25 decided to go back and created a diversion. We nearly got caught while arguing with 25 over him going back, but really he was the best one to go. He worked well with shadow manipulation. The poisons had made it so that he could create multiple shadow versions of himself. He went back in and we never saw him again." Haruhi couldn't smile over that.

"Tamaki is 25, isn't he?" Haruhi had to admit, Hunny was very sharp when he wanted to be.

"I think so, yes… and my mom then took on the case against our violators. She knew it was a big case, but she took it anyway. I heard her talking late one night with my aunt Aris. She found out that one of the reasons for the attack was for live subjects to test immortality. The one who ordered this be done to us, wanted to be immortal and he wanted to create the ultimate fighting force to not only lead in the medical field but also in being a main 'supplier' for the military. If he could manage it… but, a few days later mom was killed in a car accident that… I don't think was entirely accidental…"

**End.**


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